Southwest Seeks to Avoid Pitfalls in Systems Switchover

May 8 (Bloomberg) -- Southwest Airlines Co. isn’t taking
any chances on disruptions during its switch to a new domestic
reservation system.

As Southwest transitions to Amadeus IT Holding SA, it has
the option to continue working with its current provider, Sabre
Corp., beyond the Dec. 31, 2016, end of its contract, Randy
Sloan, the airline’s chief information officer, said in an
interview today.

By having backup support during the handover, Southwest
hopes to avoid disruptions that have hit other airlines during
changes involving computerized reservation systems. Such hiccups
struck United Continental Holdings Inc. in 2012 and US Airways
Group Inc. in 2007 as both moved merger partners to one
provider.

“Some airlines have had to do knife-edge cutovers,” Sloan
said. “I’m not a fan of those types of migrations, so we’ve
worked very hard to create a plan with as low a risk option as
you can get when implementing a major piece of technology like
this.”

The Amadeus system will give Southwest the ability to add
baggage or other fees, enter marketing agreements with other
carriers and begin overnight flights should it decide to do so.
In the past, Southwest has had to build such technology once it
decided to make a change, delaying implementation. Unlike
competitors, Southwest doesn’t charge for a first or second
checked bag or to change a reservation.

Southwest, which carries the most passengers on U.S.
routes, declined to say when Amadeus would take over full
operation of the domestic system or how long it could extend
Sabre’s assistance.

Three Systems

American Airlines Group Inc. said in January it would use
Sabre for its single reservation system after combining with US
Airways. American was already using Sabre’s platform before the
carriers’ December merger, and has said it hopes that will
minimize any disruptions when its two systems merge.

Dallas-based Southwest operates now with three reservation
systems, with Sabre handling domestic operations and Accenture
Plc’s Navitaire unit used for flights by AirTran, which
Southwest acquired in 2011. The airline in January began selling
international itineraries using Amadeus, and those flights will
begin on July 1.

Navitaire will stop operating in December after all AirTran
flights have moved to Southwest.

Southwest worked with Amadeus for two years to create the
reservation system for the airline’s first international flights
and “that work has gone incredibly well,” Sloan said.

Amadeus’s work to connect all three of the airline’s
existing reservation systems “gives us a unique position a lot
of other airlines have not had,” he said. It should allow
Southwest to gradually shift more volume over to the Amadeus
system instead of making a one-time switch.

Southwest isn’t disclosing terms of the contract with
Madrid-based Amadeus, although Sloan said it provides “both
cost efficiencies as well as incremental customer service and
value opportunities for us.”